Historical Events
- Jan 2 Because of anti-monopoly laws, Standard Oil is organized as a trust
Wagner's "Parsifal"
Jan 13 Richard Wagner completes his final opera "Parsifal"
- Jan 15 1st US ski club forms (Berlin NH)
- Jan 15 French explorer Jules Nicholas Crevaux is the first European to discover an Inca City near Sarta, north-west Argentina
- Jan 17 1st Dutch female physician Aletta Jacobs opens her office
- Jan 25 Bilu, a Russian Zionist organization, forms
- Jan 26 France government of Gambetta falls
Famous Birthdays
- Jan 3 Willem Benoy, Flemish actor and director (Pygmalion), born in Antwerpen, Flanders, Belgium (d. 1939)
- Jan 4 Aristarkh Lentulov, Russian artist, born in Nizhny Lomov, Russia (d. 1943)
- Jan 5 Herbert Bayard Swope, U.S. journalist who coined the term "Cold War", born in St. Louis, Missouri (d. 1958)
- Jan 6 Aleksandra Ekster, Russian painter, born in Białystok, Poland (d. 1949)
- Jan 6 Fan S. Noli, Albanian bishop, born in İbriktepe, Turkey (d. 1965)
- Jan 6 Samuel Rayburn, American politician (US Representative (D) from Texas, 1913-61; Speaker of the House for 17 years), born in Kingston, Tennessee (d. 1961)
- Jan 10 Charles Trowbridge, Mexican-American actor (Fatal Hour), born in Veracruz, Mexico (d. 1967)
- Jan 12 Jakob Jud, Swiss linguist and etymologist, born in Wängi, Switzerland (d. 1952)
- Jan 12 Milton Sills, American actor (The Sea Hawk), born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1930)
- Jan 14 Hendrik Willem van Loon, Dutch-American historian and writer (Story of America), born in Rotterdam, Netherlands (d. 1944)
- Jan 15 Florian Znaniecki, Polish philosopher and sociologist, born in Świątniki, Poland (d. 1958)
- Jan 15 Princess Margaret of Sweden, born in Surrey, England (d. 1920)
Arnold Rothstein (1882-1928)
Jan 17 American gambler and mobster who fixed the 1919 World Series, born in New York City
- Jan 17 Noah Beery, American character actor (Story of Esther, The Mark of Zorro), born in Kansas City, Missouri (d. 1946)
A. A. Milne (1882-1956)
Jan 18 English author of the Winnie-the-Pooh books, born in Hampstead, Middlesex
- Jan 18 Jacob Clay, Dutch philosopher and physicist (cosmic rays as charged particles), born in Berkhout, Netherlands (d. 1955)
- Jan 21 Pavel Florensky, Russian mathematician (d. 1937)
- Jan 22 Theodore Kosloff, Russian-born actor, ballet dancer and choreographer, born in Moscow, Russian Empire (d. 1956)
Virginia Woolf (1882-1941)
Jan 25 British author (Jacob's Room, To the Lighthouse), born in London
- Jan 27 Giuseppe Prezzolini, Italian-American writer (La Voce, La Cultura Italiano), born in Perugia, Italy (d. 1982)
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945)
Jan 30 32nd US President (Democrat: 1933-1945), born in Hyde Park, New York
- Jan 31 Josef van Schaik, Dutch politician and lawyer (Vice-Premier of the Netherlands), (d. 1962)
Famous Deaths
- Jan 3 Clement Claiborne Clay, American politician (U.S. Senator from Alabama), dies at 65
- Jan 3 William Harrison Ainsworth, English writer (Guy Fawkes), dies at 76
- Jan 4 John William Draper, British-American scientist, chemist, and early photographer, dies at 70
- Jan 6 Richard Henry Dana Jr., American author (Two Years Before the Mast), dies at 66
Ignacy Łukasiewicz (1822-1882)
Jan 7 Polish engineer, businessman and inventor who built the 1st modern oil refinery and invented the kerosene lamp, dies at 59 [1]
- Jan 7 Jim Fisk, American financier and "robber baron" of the Gilded Age known as Big Jim, dies of an abdominal wound a day after being shot twice by business associate Edward Stiles Stokes at 36
Theodor Schwann (1810-1882)
Jan 11 German physician, physiologist and co-originator of cell theory (Schwann cells; pepsin; metabolism), dies at 71
- Jan 13 Wilhelm Mauser, German weapon designer and manufacturer (b. 1834)
- Jan 20 John Linnell, British painter/minaturist/engraver, dies
- Jan 21 Anton Emil Titl, Austrian composer, dies at 72
- Jan 24 Levi Boone, American politician, Mayor of Chicago (1855-56), dies at 73
- Jan 25 Peter Singer, Austrian composer and instrument maker, dies at 71